The Impact of Rumors and Misnformation Regarding COVID-19

The Impact of Rumors and Misinformation Regarding COVID-19 28 March 2020 Niniola Williams Managing Director DRASA Health Trust WCAPS Member As the ongoing pandemic of a novel coronavirus – dubbed COVID-19 – spreads across continents, infecting and killing thousands, it has seized media headlines and airwaves worldwide. New information being shared with constant updates, new statistics, and varying perspectives have caused a range of emotions from confusion to hatred to anxiety to terror in people all around the world.

The newly discovered coronavirus began to emerge in the public domain early this year and the questions and information gaps quickly led to rumors. Although there is a lot of digital information available on COVID-19, there are still numerous unknowns that may contribute to misunderstandings and fake news, which are challenging to control.

It is, therefore, important for members of the public health community to clearly communicate to the general public the facts and what is known about COVID-19. It is also important to explain what is not yet known about the epidemic before rumors, inaccurate information, and theories fill the knowledge gaps.

What do we know so far?

We know COVID-19 is part of a large family of coronaviruses that typically spread from animals such as birds, bats, or cats to humans. Other related coronaviruses include Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), both of which were discovered in the last 2 decades and have caused outbreaks in multiple countries.

As of March 28th 2020, COVID-19 has infected more than 600,000 people worldwide. It is spreading faster and wider than SARS-CoV or MERS-CoV but is less deadly with a mortality rate of 2-4% compared to the mortality rates of the SARS-Cov and MERS-Cov outbreaks which were 9.5% and 34.5% respectively. Those most at risk of death from COVID-19 are the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and immune compromising diseases like HIV/AIDS.

COVID-19 can spread from person to person through close contact, respiratory droplets from the sneeze or cough of an infected person and contaminated objects or surfaces. Researchers estimate the R0 (R naught) for COVID-19 - the average number of people each infected person will infect - is between 2 and 3, making it roughly as infectious as annual seasonal influenza outbreaks, which in the United States alone has already had a higher lethality rate than COVID19 in this 2019-2020 flu season.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, dry cough, muscle pain, abdominal pain, fatigue and shortness of breath, which can progress to pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs) and kidney failure. Symptoms can appear anytime during the incubation period, which is 1 to 14 days after exposure. A study published by Yan Bai and colleagues in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrated that an asymptomatic yet infected person, can transmit the virus to others. In addition, Another study has shown that COVID-19 can survive four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard, and two to three days on plastic and stainless steel surfaces, but we also know it can be inactivated with disinfectants, which emphasizes the role of environmental decontamination in preventing infection.

Most importantly, though several drugs are currently being tested and several vaccines are in development, we know there is no cure or specific treatment.

What don’t we know?

COVID-19 is an emerging infectious disease so there is still a lot more to discover including how it spreads, its severity in different groups of the population and the immunity status of survivors.

We do not know the exact animal reservoir for this new coronavirus. Some have speculated it originated in bats or civet cats, but snakes have also been explored as a possible reservoir.

Though we know for certain that the epidemic originated in China, we do not know who the index (first) case was. Some have speculated the index case was infected from a wholesale seafood and animal market in Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019 but others claim the first case was an elderly man with Alzheimer’s disease who was infected in early December and had no contact with the seafood and animal market.

We also cannot say for certain how many cases there are worldwide. It is possible that there are infected people who are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms that are not being reported at all. Those people are not included in the official numbers.

What is fueling the confusion and panic?

In the middle of any public health emergency, rumors and misinformation are common. They cause fear and mislead people, who create new challenges on top of the already existing challenges of fighting against a fast-spreading pathogen like coronavirus.

Here in Nigeria, for example, rumors began spreading about COVID-19 even before we had any cases reported or confirmed. In fact, the reaction to the new coronavirus epidemic in Nigeria is reminiscent of when Ebola entered the country in 2014. Though the Ebola outbreak was curbed, the moment word spread that Ebola was in Nigeria, there was chaos and fake news.

Sanitizers flew off the shelves just like face masks have become scarce in China and other parts of the world right now. People started relying on misinformation, such as bathing in saltwater or drinking bleach, to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Today in Nigeria, the situation is similar. COVID-19 rumors and conspiracy theories about everything from China killing its citizens to stop the spread of the virus to eating garlic to protect yourself to rubbing sesame oil on your skin to prevent infection are spreading widely, especially on social media platforms. This misinformation is very dangerous. People are following erroneous advice and ignoring the scientific facts of how to prevent coronavirus infection, giving them a false sense of security and potentially exposing them to the exact thing they think they are protecting themselves from. One perfect example is wearing surgical face masks. Only health workers, people who are sick, or people who are immunocompromised should be wearing masks, however, it is not unusual to see people walking around with masks in public right now. These people are not trained on how to properly wear or remove masks, how often to change masks or how to dispose used masks and as such are exposing themselves more and increasing their risk for infection.

Despite the fact that the lives of many have already been disrupted through the closure of schools and markets, some members of Nigerian society believe the virus cannot affect them.

They see COVID-19 as a virus infecting only the elite and upper classes of society and therefore, they believe they cannot get infected. They have made the pandemic “someone else’s problem” which means they also do not see the need to follow the restrictions and regulations that have been put in place to contain the spread of the virus. The most pervasive and dangerous vulnerability in Nigeria’s fight against COVID-19 is this mindset. For as long as this portion of the population does not believe or understand the risk and does not comply with the restrictions being imposed, the virus cannot be systematically controlled.

What can we do?

Ultimately, though we are still learning about COVID-19, researchers and officials have given us enough information to exercise basic protection against infection. Here are 6 simple things we can all do to prevent infection and stay safe: ● Practice good hygiene including frequently washing your hands with clean water and soap for at least 20 seconds and disinfecting your hands with alcohol-based sanitizer (60% alcohol or more) ● Practice cough etiquette (covering your cough or sneeze with a disposable tissue or using your inner elbow)

● Be mindful of the surfaces you touch and clean and disinfect surfaces and objects frequently ● Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth ● Avoid close contact with sick people ● Stay at home if you are sick But most of all, we must inform ourselves with facts to avoid hysteria and avoid fight against fake news by not panicking, sticking to and only sharing facts, and remembering that most patients with COVID-19 make a full recovery.